How to Make Baby Food and Healthy Popsicles at the Same Time

It seems we've reached that bittersweet point when baby doesn't want mushy baby food anymore.  She'd rather eat what we're eating and enjoys feeding herself.  It's a wonderful beginning to her growing independence and development... but I did enjoy making fresh, healthy baby food.

One afternoon each week, while I prepared supper, I would also steam several vegetables and fruits to make baby foods.  Once soft and cooled, I would puree the vegetables and fruits (we use the Magic Bullet- it's the perfect size & gives a super smooth texture).  Some vegetables would turn out rather runny (especially corn), so adding rice or oatmeal single-grain infant cereal would thicken it up.  Some vegetables would turn out very thick (especially sweet potatoes), so adding a little apple sauce, pure juice or the reserved cooking water would achieve the perfect texture.  The pureed foods would then be transferred into our ice trays and put in the freezer overnight.  Once they were completely frozen, I'd pop out the little baby food cubes and throw them in freezer bags.  No need to have a separate bag for each blend- I just labeled the bags with colors like "Orange- Sweet Potato & Apple" "Green- Peas & Carrots" or "Purple- Blueberry, Pear & Rice".  It saved space in my freezer this way.  When it's time to feed baby, take out however many cubes you need, place them in a serving bowl, then place the serving bowl in a dish of warm water to thaw the food.  We also stored a day's worth of cubes in the refrigerator, so they'd be thawed and ready to serve.

Freezing and Storing the Homemade Baby Food

My favorite reasons for making these frozen baby food cubes is that babies just LOVE to chew on the cold food in a mesh teether.  It gives them eating independence, soothes a teething baby's gums, and occupies baby just long enough to give Mommy a quick break to wrap up supper!  They are also Incredibly Cheap to make compared to all the jars of baby food you'd have to buy!  Let's not forget these are super healthy and as fresh as you want them!  Use your own garden veggies & fruits, or fresh veggies from the market.  Avoid using store-bought canned fruits and vegetables to make your own baby food because so many of the nutrients have already been lost.  Fresh is best!

Get creative with your baby food combinations!  Increase your babies palate for a lifetime love of healthy foods!  Here's just a few of our regular favorites:
Carrot
Carrot-Apple
Carrot-Apple-Cinnamon
Pea
Pea-Carrot
Sweet Potato
Sweet Potato-Apple
Sweet Potato-Spiced Pear (from pears I canned with cinnamon sticks)
Lima Bean- Corn (Lima beans stay slightly chunky, better for older infant)
Corn-Rice Cereal
Green Bean
Blueberry-Banana-Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice-Rice Cereal
Peach-Apple
Banana-Oatmeal Cereal- Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice
Pear-Blueberry-Oatmeal Cereal
Apple
Apple- Cinnamon
Pumpkin-Apple
Squash
Squash-Carrot-Apple
Avocado-Pear
Watermelon-Rice Cereal

For older kiddos, just put the same pureed vegetable and fruits into Popsicle trays for healthy summer treats!  Jazz it up by adding yogurt or honey to the puree before freezing.  **Babies Under 12-18 months old CANNOT EAT HONEY**  Honey should only be added to the popsicles for older kids.  My pediatrician told us to avoid feeding baby strawberries until about 12 months old too.

Another option for any juicers out there- freeze your fresh, healthy juices in the ice cube trays for baby's mesh teether or for kid's popsicles!

Fresh, Healthy Juice - This gorgeous blend is Beet, Cucumber, Carrot,  and Pear.

I made about 95% of the baby food myself, but I always kept some store-bought baby food on hand, ready to go for the diaper bag.  Infant rooms in most daycares have refrigerators with freezers in the room.  You may be able to provide the daycare with a bag of the baby food cubes, along with a small bowl and spoon to serve from, instead of sending the store-bought baby food jars.

Chocolate Squash Muffins- Eating Your Veggies for Dessert

Summer vegetable gardens usually bring no shortage of yellow summer squash.  For us, it's one of the easiest, quickest maturing, and most productive plants.  It's definitely a regular vegetable in our garden.
Summer squash is best fresh, however, and coming up is different ways to eat the bounty is always interesting.  This is the beginning of an effort to post at least one recipe for each type of vegetable that we harvest from our summer garden this year.

Yellow Summer Squash

I recently purchased a great cookbook for gardeners called All New Square Foot Gardening Cookbook, by Mel Bartholomew.  I love that each featured veggie or fruit has it's own section that includes a harvest guide, easy recipes, and a suggestions on how to involve kids of all ages.
Click here to get this great cookbook:
All New Square Foot Gardening Cookbook, by Mel 

I made Mel Bartholomew's Creole Chocolate Squash Muffins.  With this recipe, I'm able to kill three bird with one stone (a side dish, baby food, & muffins).

I usually have a hard time following recipes directly.  I'll eyeball all the measurements, skipping all the extra dishes & measuring utensils (I don't have a dishwasher so I try to keep it simple) and I'll change several of the ingredients.... But for the sake of trying the new recipe the way Mel intended & for this post, I stuck to the recipe (almost... I added a shot of ground cinnamon into half of the muffin batter, just to try it)!

Ingredients:
1 lb yellow squash (2-3 Medium) (I used about 10 small & had enough extra for supper & baby food)
2 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp plus 2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp salt

First- wash, cut & steam or boil yellow summer squash with a touch of salt & butter.  There you go- side dish for supper is ready!

Leftover boiled Yellow Squash from supper

Next- use leftover cooked squash (approx 2.5 cups) & purée.  You need to end up with 2 cups of yellow squash purée for the muffins.  If you have a baby like me, leave out the salt & butter in the first step, then purée a little extra & BAM- a healthy, yummy baby food.  Thicken it up with a bit of infant rice or oatmeal cereal, if you'd like.  Freeze whatever baby will not be eating that day.  Busy moms need to multitask!

Mmm- Healthy Baby Food

Then- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Take 2 cups of the squash purée and add the eggs to it, mixing very well.  In a separate bowl, combine the butter, cocoa, and white sugar.  Add this to the squash mixture and mix well.  Now, combine brown sugar, flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the center of the flour mix.  Pour the squash mix into your well and carefully stir until completely incorporated.

Chocolate Squash mixture poured into the flour well.

Fill muffin tins/papers two-thirds full, and stick them in the oven.  Wash the dishes, change a diaper, and approximately 20 minutes later (or until toothpick test comes clean), you've got this yummy treat!

I always add a bit of water into the empty spaces on a muffin tin.  Nice thick batter!

Get a glass of milk ready & enjoy your chocolate squash muffin!  Mel says it makes 18 medium muffins, but I ended up with 22 (those extra 4 were gone in about 10 minutes).

Yummy Chocolate Squash Muffins!

The texture was very nice and moist.  They are mildly sweet, nice for a breakfast muffin.  I think a sprinkling of walnuts would be great on them, & the cinnamon I added is always appreciated in our house.  However, the chocolate flavor makes me think dessert.  If you wanted to serve it as such, I'd top it with a chocolate frosting.